I am blessed with many good qualities.
Patience, however, is not one of them.
Anyone who knows me, knows that when the good Lord was handing out patience, I did not have time to wait in the queue.
In fairness, I come by it honestly. I am the product of two parents who were not exactly following in the footsteps of Job.
Developing the Virtue of Patience
This entire move to Ireland has been an exercise in developing the virtue of patience.
Selling the farm. Deciding where to go. Searching for houses in the USA. Searching for houses in Ireland. Deciding where to go. (again/still) Deciding what to take. Agonizing over every single item. (That took considerable time) Crying. (a lot) Packing. Donating. More donating. Even more donating. More packing. And eventually putting everything else in a dumpster.
Oh yeah, and trying to do it all in the throes of a pandemic.
The entire process has taken nearly 18 months. But these past few months have been the hardest.
The Perfect Plan
Once I had bought the house in Ireland, I scheduled my move down to the week. The shipping company told me that it would take 6-8 weeks, door to door. I could definitely work with those numbers.
Since I had a flight date of June 24, I scheduled the packers to come on May 15. That meant my “container” would arrive in Ireland between June 26 and July 10. Perfect. I was taking just a few things with me to tide me over. My sheets, towels, pillows, dishes – basically everything – would arrive within a couple of weeks.
The house was already furnished with the big things – table and chairs, beds – so I knew the inconvenience would be minimal. And certainly tolerable.
No matter how much you plan for moving, it is always chaotic. I had done lots of prep, but with three men packing, wrapping, boxing, and schlepping it was a very fast paced day. Before my eyes, all the “things” I had so fastidiously placed in one room were gone – out to a waiting truck, headed for a ship. It was daunting. Emotionally draining.
But in some ways, a relief. There was no going back now.
Hectic Days
The following 5 weeks flew by. It would have been impossible without the help of my sister, my son, and a couple of really good friends. I had more than one moment when I was just sure it would never get finished.
But eventually, I closed the door, handed the keys to the new owners, and said good-bye to my parents’ beloved farm.
The Next Stage
A couple of days after arriving in Ireland, finally having time to breathe, I realized that I hadn’t heard from the shipping company in some time. So I quickly sent off an email inquiring as to when I might expect my “stuff”. It was already a day or so past the “6 week” mark, so I expected it to arrive soon.
In short order, I received a reply telling me that they were missing some paperwork, so my shipment hadn’t left New York yet.
Paperwork???
As in, they could have sent me an email requesting the paperwork?
Needless to say, I was furious. And told them so.
I believed that all the documents were in order, and since I hadn’t heard a single word from them in over 6 weeks, had no reason to think otherwise.
If I sent them the required papers, there was a possibility that my things might get on a ship by July 10. Possibly. July 10 was already 8 weeks since they had packed.
Apparently, due to Covid 19 (isn’t every snafu due to Covid 19???) there hadn’t been as many shipments as usual, and since my goods didn’t fill a container, they had to wait until there was enough to fill one before shipping.
Of course, this was never mentioned as a possibility beforehand.
Patience.
This was a situation that was entirely out of my control.
Finally, An Arrival Date
On August 1, I received an email from an Irish company advising me that my shipment would be landing in Dublin on Friday, August 7. But, there was more paperwork that was required, as nothing had been forwarded by the NY shipper.
Fortunately, I had brought nearly all the necessary paperwork with me and was able to find the rest on my computer.
But, not so fast. Next email said the ship was delayed a week and now would not be arriving until Thursday, August 13. It only takes 5 days to cross the Atlantic on a ship – where the heck was it for this week? Honestly, at this point, I didn’t even ask.
Eventually, the vessel arrived, the shipment was unloaded and cleared the customs inspections in two short days. Any day now, right?
Unfortunately, due to … you guessed it! … Covid 19, there is a shortage of drivers and delivery dates are delayed. I could expect my shipment to arrive on … Thursday, September 3.
I have spent the interim talking long daily walks. I have spent time exploring coffee shops and learned the town of Dungarvan inside out. There has been some visiting of my relations, although not too much as people are still wary of “the disease”.
And I have worked on learning patience.
Thanks to my cousins, it has been bearable. They provided me with a duvet, a few towels, some cups, plates, and utensils to get me by. At times it has been a struggle not to just go out and buy something that I knew was coming in “the box”. But I’ve been pretty good.
Patient.
So tomorrow morning, between 8 and 9 am, the onslaught begins. At the risk of sounding a bit like Mary Kate Danaher, I’m anxious “to have my things about me”.
And to make my lovely little house really feel like home.
I can’t wait.